What is Arduino?

Arduino is an open-source prototyping platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software. Arduino boards are able to read inputs – light on a sensor, a finger on a button, or a Twitter message – and turn it into an output – activating a motor, turning on an LED, publishing something online. You can tell your board what to do by sending a set of instructions to the microcontroller on the board. To do so you use the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring), and the Arduino Software (IDE), based on Processing.

Over the years Arduino has been the brain of thousands of projects, from everyday objects to complex scientific instruments. A worldwide community of makers – students, hobbyists, artists, programmers, and professionals – has gathered around this open-source platform, their contributions have added up to an incredible amount of accessible knowledge that can be of great help to novices and experts alike.

Arduino was born at the Ivrea Interaction Design Institute as an easy tool for fast prototyping, aimed at students without a background in electronics and programming. As soon as it reached a wider community, the Arduino board started changing to adapt to new needs and challenges, differentiating its offer from simple 8-bit boards to products for IoT applications, wearable, 3D printing, and embedded environments. All Arduino boards are completely open-source, empowering users to build them independently and eventually adapt them to their particular needs. The software, too, is open-source, and it is growing through the contributions of users worldwide.

Why Arduino?

Thanks to its simple and accessible user experience, Arduino has been used in thousands of different projects and applications. The Arduino software is easy-to-use for beginners, yet flexible enough for advanced users. It runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Teachers and students use it to build low cost scientific instruments, to prove chemistry and physics principles, or to get started with programming and robotics. Designers and architects build interactive prototypes, musicians and artists use it for installations and to experiment with new musical instruments. Makers, of course, use it to build many of the projects exhibited at the Maker Faire, for example. Arduino is a key tool to learn new things. Anyone – children, hobbyists, artists, programmers – can start tinkering just following the step by step instructions of a kit, or sharing ideas online with other members of the Arduino community.

There are many other microcontrollers and microcontroller platforms available for physical computing. Parallax Basic Stamp, Netmedia’s BX-24, Phidgets, MIT’s Handyboard, and many others offer similar functionality. All of these tools take the messy details of microcontroller programming and wrap it up in an easy-to-use package. Arduino also simplifies the process of working with microcontrollers, but it offers some advantage for teachers, students, and interested amateurs over other systems:

Inexpensive – Arduino boards are relatively inexpensive compared to other microcontroller platforms. The least expensive version of the Arduino module can be assembled by hand, and even the pre-assembled Arduino modules cost less than $50

Simple, clear programming environment – The Arduino Software (IDE) is easy-to-use for beginners, yet flexible enough for advanced users to take advantage of as well. For teachers, it’s conveniently based on the Processing programming environment, so students learning to program in that environment will be familiar with how the Arduino IDE works.

Open source and extensible software – The Arduino software is published as open source tools, available for extension by experienced programmers. The language can be expanded through C++ libraries, and people wanting to understand the technical details can make the leap from Arduino to the AVR C programming language on which it’s based. Similarly, you can add AVR-C code directly into your Arduino programs if you want to.

Open source and extensible hardware – The plans of the Arduino boards are published under a Creative Commons license, so experienced circuit designers can make their own version of the module, extending it and improving it. Even relatively inexperienced users can build the breadboard version of the module in order to understand how it works and save money.

Entry Level

Get started with Arduino using Entry Level products: easy to use and ready to power your first creative projects. These boards and modules are the best to start learning and tinkering with electronics and coding. The StarterKit includes a book with 15 tutorials that will walk you through the basics up to complex projects.

ARDUINO UNO

ARDUINO 101

ARDUINO PRO

ARDUINO MICRO

ARDUINO PRO MINI

ARDUINO NANO

ARDUINO

STARTER KIT

ARDUINO BASIC KIT

ARDUINO MOTOR SHIELD

Enhanced Features

Experience the excitement of more complex projects choosing one of the boards with advanced functionalities, or faster performances.

ARDUINO MEGA 2560

ARDUINO ZERO

ARDUINO DUE

ARDUINO PROTO SHIELD

Internet of Things

Make connected devices easily with one of these IoT products and open your creativity with the opportunities of the world wide web.

ARDUINO YÚN

ARDUINO ETHERNET SHIELD

ARDUINO GSM SHIELD

ARDUINO WIFI SHIELD 101

Wearable

Add smartness to your soft projects and discover the magic of sewing the power of electronics directly to textiles.

ARDUINO GEMMA

LILYPAD ARDUINO

SIMPLE

LILYPAD ARDUINO

MAIN BOARD

LILYPAD ARDUINO USB

LILYPAD ARDUINO

SIMPLE SNAP

3D Printing

The Arduino approach to 3D printing is represented by Materia 101, a printer that allows you to start experimenting with this amazing technology in the easiest way.

Entry Level

Get started with Genuino using Entry Level products: easy to use and ready to power your first creative projects. These boards and modules are the best to start learning and tinkering with electronics and coding. The StarterKit includes a book with 15 tutorials that will walk your thought the basics up to complex projects.

GENUINO UNO

GENUINO 101

GENUINO MICRO

GENUINO

STARTER KIT

Enhanced Features

Experience the excitement of more complex projects choosing a board with advanced functionalities and faster performances.